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Monday, 24 July 2017

Since I was around 12 weeks pregnant, I started searching on eBay and Gumtree for second hand items of the bigger items we needed and to prepare for the baby... When we had Millie, we bought everything full price and wasted a lot of money in the long run as I didn’t feel comfortable buying second hand, but with Mylo, anything I could get second hand or even slightly discounted, I did! The main things I wanted to get were the pram and car seat, Snuzpod and a Changing table... everything else I was happy to pay whatever I needed for them.

eBay was a great way to find items that were local to me and an amazing way to save money too! I actually bought quite a lot of Mylo’s clothes from eBay as there were a few bulk buys on there for £20-£30 and the clothes had barely been worn! Some of them even had tags on still and there were items from Next, Mothercare, Joules and Gap, massive bargain as I got clothes that ranged from 3 months to 9 months to see us through! Don’t be put off buying clothes second hand - I must have only spent £50 on full priced items, the rest were from eBay or charity shops!

I managed to get our Snuzpod from eBay too paying just £100 for it and it was practically brand new! The previous owners had used a sleepyhead on top of the mattress so it had barely been touched! It even came with a mattress protector and sheets so we saved well over £150 buying that second hand. We did need to go to Rugby for it though (around 30 miles) but the petrol used to go and get it still made it cheaper than buying it full price! Don’t worry if you don’t drive though, don’t let places like eBay put you off as there are some fab ways of getting large items delivered like this eBay courier, Shiply for a reasonable price! If you’re buying a big item and getting it for quite a discount then it’s definitely worth looking into getting it delivered.

We also got this amazing changing table off a friend - it was originally pine but with a lick of paint we turned it into our own changing table and absolutely love it! You can find similar items on eBay and don’t be scared to paint or amend anything to how you want it to look! The tin of paint was a couple of quid and the baskets were £1.99 each from Home Bargains - a perfect place to hide away all the bits and bobs needed for baby!

Even though I bought a lot of items second hand, I still plan on selling whatever I can on to others through similar sites or even on the selling pages on Facebook. Larger items are easier to maintain and sell on as long as they’re in good condition and even if you get a fraction of the price you paid for it, when it all adds up its completely worth it! I just have to sort through Mylo’s clothes and bulk them all together and I’ll have my first lot of clothes to sell on and I’ll continue to do that over the next few months!

Thursday, 20 July 2017

Now, it may be a bit of a touchy subject to cover but, if you’re reading this then the likelyhood is that you either A), already have kids, B) are pregnant with kids and are dreading the day you have to consider contraception again or C), are just curious as to what this is all about because you saw a couple of condoms on the picture... Am I right!?

Well, now Mylo is now 3 months old, we’re back into the swing of things (in that department) and I’ve started to consider my options when it comes to contraception. Ideally, the best and most permanent thing to do would be for Adam have the snip but, realistically, that’s not going to happen as we’re still both really young so the balls in my court unfortunately and means I’m left in control of birth control. Condoms are our best friend at the moment but they aren’t really the most ideal or the safest way to make sure we have no more babies!

Previously, before I fell pregnant with Millie, I was on the pill (Microgynon I believe?) but I was actually taking this when I fell pregnant with Millie so when she was born, I wanted to go for a safer option and decided to have the implant. It worked great for me for just over a year with no side effects what so ever. However, fast forward 18 months and I started getting horrible mood swings, felt so depressed and actually had to start taking the pill alongside the implant to balance out my hormones which went against my reasons for having the implant in the first place. So, my implant was removed and I went cold turkey for a few months until we decided it was time to try for a baby... Fast forward a year and here we are. Back to square one, if you like.

Now, with the pill, implant and ‘going cold turkey’ being ruled out this time round, I’m left with very few options, these being; the injection and the other being the coil. Neither really jump out to me, especially with the injection being similar to the implant and filling me with fake hormones, the copper coil is really the only one I’m left with an is really the only one that seems like the best fit at this moment in time. I’ve done a little research and spoken to my doctor about it too and it does seem to be the one thats ticking all the boxes but I think I’m going to give myself a few months to recover fully from my c-section, take things carefully and ensure we’re always using protection no matter what, and then see what happens. For the time being though, we’ve been using these ONE condoms which are great and there are so many types! They even have glow in the dark ones - something that made me giggle! The fact that they come in these plastic tubs is also quite appealing as they don’t actually look like condoms, quite obviously they are but they don’t have that boring packaging like all the other brands do and, they’re actually cheaper than your ‘well-known brand’. I’m past the days of going to the family planning clinic and getting free condoms unfortunately...

So I’d love to hear about what contraception you use and whether you changed at all after you had children. Have you had any bad experiences or better still, do you have the coil? I’d love to know what you think and whether you recommend it at all?!